


What a Wonderful World

by arcadevia



Series: Arcade’s Instagram Fics [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Disneyland, Flashbacks, Flirting, Hotels, Lance (Voltron) Has Anxiety, M/M, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Nostalgia, Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron), Road Trips, night swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28119087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcadevia/pseuds/arcadevia
Summary: Keith is beautiful in the way he fits so damn perfectly in these moments, so much so that his presence doesn’t waver the thick cloud of newer nostalgia pillowed around Lance. He completes it, with deep grey eyes and wisps of black hair that slink between Lance’s fingers and curl at their ends. He completes it with a smile so faint it’s almost unnoticeable, but the curve is still there and it counts, it counts every damn time and Lance is just internally facepalming at the thought of how he once assumed Keith would have nothing to do with his life besides be someone he was so jealous of.Or: If you have memories tied to disney, hotels, road trips, and/or night swimming, then this might be for you...[Preview of a series on my instagram]
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Arcade’s Instagram Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065515
Kudos: 27





	What a Wonderful World

Imagine this with him.

Lance, in a family of seven, only went on family vacations once a year —twice, if he was lucky— to his grandparents house in Colorado. They’d drive from Arizona, settle in a hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico, then take off in the afternoon the next day.

When he hears that phrase about the journey sometimes being more enjoyable, even fulfilling, than the destination, he’s suddenly pushed underwater and into the distant memory of waking up at night while they were on the road.

The first thing he would notice was the quiet. In a fairly large family, that part almost never goes unheeded. Then the tame, ongoing echo from outside that only the highway can reap at such a late hour. His legs would be curled underneath the comforter he shared with Rachel, his twin sister, in the backseat, and his cheek would be ingrained with webs of blushing red from being pressed against the creases of his deflated pillow during his slumber.

By then, he would slowly lift himself on unsteady hands and peer around their van, as if his sense of hearing was somehow lost among the clutter of their traveling necessities, and he could simply scoop it up and shove it back in to return to the hair-pulling chaos he’s so used to.

But it was quiet. And the street lamps continued a rhythmic parade outside their windows: mellow, warm lights casting themselves inside then moving on the next moment, like the city was too uninterested to swallow them whole yet.

The crown of Rachel’s head would glow, the windowsill, the undulating curves of their piled blankets, Marco’s hand hanging off the edge of the seat ahead and twitching every now and then from his adventurous dreams, and even Veronica’s pointed nose from where she’s curled on the floor in her own little nook behind the front seats of their minivan. Each visible face is softened and relaxed, sleeping in a reality that feels so fragile to Lance, he was afraid one wrong movement would make the moment fall to bits like a veil of delicate snow.

Then, they’d drive into the darkness again, where the lights stand out of reach and can only illuminate the road and traffic ahead. Lance could feel the transition too since the ground had changed and their van carried through with a _ba-dum_ that barely shook them all.

He’d wobble with it and lose some balance, perhaps his focus along with it, so the only option he felt was fit was back under the warm blanket and smooshed against his pillow.

On the floor, he’d spot the small screen of those portable TV’s they’d always bring along just to avoid unbearable bickering and tantrums— guilty as charged over here, but he was like, seven, okay? The screen would be streaked in vibrant reds and dotted with bright neon colors that flickered the signs of Radiator Springs to life.

And Lance was tired. Oh, so tired. But he knows undoubtedly that the songs had danced out from those small speakers and into his sleepy head, turning the song _Sh-Boom_ into an unintentional lullaby that cradles the memory of otherwise white noise and his slumbering siblings on their drive to a giddy, Colorado Christmas.

It’s why the moment he feels something stir against his chest now, he continues lying comfortably with his legs _still_ bent, not because the other half of the seat is being used anymore, here in the present, but because it’s been quite a while and he’s way past seven years-old now.

He watches Keith’s ruffled hair absorb those low lights passing outside when the boy peeps up, caressed in the same old peace Lance feels wash over him from that memory. Then, Keith’s hand that comes up to rub his own cheek in a funny little mimicry to past-Lance’s moment, taking his turn at peering ahead before leaning back down.

Keith doesn’t see Lance’s heavy lidded, but very much open eyes. He just turns his way by the hips then lays back down beside him. And just for good measure, with closed eyes too, he lifts Lance’s arm to wrap it around himself again before letting out a mindless sigh and shifting close enough like nothing could ever be sandwiched between them.

Lance doesn’t say anything either. Because it’s quiet, and a crush in the dark feels far better than the nerve wracking kind that’s exposed in the harsh sun.

**Author's Note:**

> this is part one for my series ‘What a Wonderful World’. for the rest of this work, visit my [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/arcadevia/) or the [#wwwklance](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/wwwklance/) tag.
> 
> please check out the part 1 post anyway since i made a cute little video intro for it!! :)


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